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Wednesday, August 07, 2024

Down The DNA Rabbit Hole!


A couple of days ago I received an email that said my DNA testing was in progress and that the NEXT email I received from them would be my results.

I thought it would be another week or so.

I awoke to the results email this morning - and I've wanted to do nothing else but explore what information was right there in my inbox!

This is me!  And there are things I didn't know - or remember ever knowing.

How is it that I am 26% Swedish and Danish?  LOL!

I guess as I go further back and try to build my family tree I will find some answers.

In talking to my dad - he knew about is Swedish great grandparents, but I had never met them and really didn't know anything about them.

My Grannie whose maiden name was Malcolmson always talked about her Scottish ancestry - so I assumed that was a big part of my make up, too.  And it is. 21%,  But it falls behind the Swedish/Danish and the other England/Northwestern Europe.

Ireland comes in at a sad 11%,  3% Russian? My mom had ancestors from Czechoslovakia and Germany, so that's in the ballpark.

That's like the 4% Chow from Mabel's DNA that gave the curl to her tail.  

This is SO super interesting!


And Lola says - stop digging. Get to work.  This can wait for later!

Over the past several days I've been working on my Diamond Tiles top.  I had decided that it didn't need to be bed sized.  It could be smaller.  I only needed to cut out 3 more block kits to set it 7 X7.

I shared that video On This Post.

And then I got to webbing.  Click to Play:



From there it was deciding what to do with the completer border for the nine-patches at the edge of the quilt center. Click to Play:


I got busy sewing those completer borders on:


This quilt is making its own decisions as I go along -


What's next?


Joining border strips end-to-end on the diagon with my Sew Q Laser.

This is where I left things - it needs a floater border so that those squares at the outer edge of the completed nine-patches do not connect to something dark and disappear.

And THEN I can add perhaps a narrow pop of color before adding the wider green with pink dots as outer border.

As I said - the quilt is making its own decisions and telling me what it needs.

Borders will continue today.

The TaDa quilters are arriving this afternoon -



Our Summit St. Box drawing happens TOMORROW!

Head over to THAT POST and get your entry in!

I'll be drawing for 2 winners to each receive a Road Trip box from Jordan at Summit St Shop.

Summit St Shop is in Webberville, Michigan!  Are you within driving distance?

They spent a year and a half renovating a historic church building into a storefront open to the public.. 

Summit St Shop carries quilting fabric, of course - but also decor, gifts and more!

And yes, you can order online. Summit St Boxes are currently on sale as well, and there is free shipping on orders over $75.00 within the USA.

I just know you are going to want to collect ALL of the boxes - especially the quilty ones!

And really - all I want to do right now is click back over to that Ancestry tab and start digging a bit deeper into those DNA results.

But work awaits.  There will be more time for that.

But DANG - this is so much fun!


Quiltville Quote of the Day -

No one ever told me that aging would be like this!

And check out those Baptist fans and how they march right over the Dresden plates anchoring everything in place. Love it!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!




 

20 comments:

Debra said...

I give you an A+ for spelling your history countries!
On my mother's side I'm Mik Mak of the Algonquin tribes and Canadian French.
I think I'll start a new quilt..not sure though. I have no UFO to fini.
I'm always afraid of not finishing in time for the mystery. Maybe I'll quilt my Bristol and Indigo Way and Triple Treat quilts instead.
Have a Sparkling day
Blessings 💞

Anonymous said...

Love the quote for today! Now I just need to find that doctor that will tell me that…or at least the ice cream part!

Miss Papa said...

Oh my goodness, Bonnie, Diamond Tiles gets prettier every time you show progress! DNA results came quick--happy searching for more info.
My body tells me the same thing! :-)

Jean Ferguson said...

Bonnie you are so right! Finding pieces of the DNA puzzle and building your tree is like piecing together a family quilt. 😊 I love finding out about my ancestors and have discovered family members I didn't know I had! I wasn't born a Ferguson, but totally understand why I married one! I am 32% Scottish 🤣 then 12% Sweden/ Denmark, 8% Ireland, 5% Norway, 1% Wales and the rest is England and Northwestern Europe. SO interesting!

Anonymous said...

Ha, 3 of 4 of my grandparents were German, as were 7 of 8 of my great —grandparents and my original report came back as 21% German! Lots of other areas, some of which I still can’t trace. Over the years as they developed finer techniques, they send modifications which has definitely my percentages, but never got rid of the weird areas. You will find yourself spending hours looking down those rabbit holes! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

This quote is EXACTLY what my body says!!

Mary said...

Rabbit Hole fun! We did our Ancestry a while ago. Our surprise was South Africa. The British sent some of our Ancestors there in the 1800's. History is so interesting.
Love the Diamond Tile decision you're making. It sparkles with color!

Anonymous said...

Welcome to your mystery ancestry. Like a patchwork quilt we are a mix of many backgrounds.

Anonymous said...

Hi Bonnie! I am also working on Diamond Tiles from QM 2018! I had 32 made and thought about setting 7X9. So I am sewing along with you! Thinking I might make my sashing with the 4-patch in solid Black or Black plaid??? I’m a scrap and color fanatic, so just LOVE this block!
I’m also in process of sewing XING together. It’s a complex quilt but loving how it is coming together! Love all your designs! Stay scrappy and stringy🤣🤣🤣
Bonnie C. In South GA USA

Anonymous said...

Love the quilt, and the quote. I, too, have a body that asks for ice cream! The ancestry rabbit hole is real. When I first retired, I went deep and built a tree with over 20,000 (completely unverified) ancestors. I did try to at least NOT include obviously wrong, and the wishful thinking. It was fun, but used up a lot of time. Su (with no e)

Anonymous said...

Me too!

Anonymous said...

Who did you use for the DNA results? Thanks

Neil and Lorelei said...

I have similar Swedish with some German and a lot of British ancestry. Remember, the Vikings who invaded Britain and the mainland were from Sweden....so that may account also for some of the Scandinavian percentages.

Tracey Honig said...

Oh, but what a fun rabbit hole to go down!! I know I am 95% German & a little French thrown in on my mother's side!! Enjoy that journey. I loved watching that TV show, "Who do you think you are?" It's about celebrities finding their past roots. Maybe you could get on it?! HA!
I know exactly what you mean about quilts talking to you & telling you what they need. I had that very experience the last time I was at the long arm machine! It was definitely an eye opener, though! Your Diamond Tile will be a very bright & happy summer throw! Happy quilting!

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Marianne said...

A lot of people with ancestry from the British Isles have Swedish/Norwegian blood as the Vikings traveled all over Europe. Enjoy working on your genealogy - it can be very addicting!

Raewyn said...

Bonnie, have you seen the chart (on Ancestry.com) that shows how DNA is passed from generation to generation, random bits from each parent? It's an interesting visual that shows how we can end up with so much/such a mixture of each of our ancestors. I think I got every little piece of Scottish material that was floating around! Diamond Tiles is looking great!

Barb said...

I really appreciate learning that the quilt can speak to you as it goes, and not every project has to have a "finished" photo in mind to shoot for. I have a bag of strip sets that was going to be so many things including oopsie daisy blocks but they didn't want to to be that. So right now I will press another UFO for borders and ponder the strips some more....thank you Bonnie!

Anonymous said...

Wish I had remembered about the Summit St. Shop, I just drove past the exit for Webberville a week and a half ago. I will have to remember next time I go out there to visit my brother. Love the quote!

Anonymous said...

DNA is a wonderful rabbit hole and time sink! I traced my UK roots WAY back but didn’t get much on my Italian side. My immigrant grandparents, long gone, didn’t talk about the old country and their children are also long gone. I’ll have to go there to get more info. 😛

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